Finland importing more scrap paper for use as raw material

Despite being one of the world’s largest producers of virgin paper, Finland is having to import more paper than even before.

This is because Finns are reading printed newspapers less, and this means that the volume of paper available for recycling has fallen even though two thirds of paper is recycled in the country.

Home insulation manufacturer Ekovilla chief executive Mika Ervasti told the YLE newspaper that his company has traditionally relied on recycled paper for its product, but has now had to begin using more primary material as well as buying more paper from abroad. This is because it cannot use mixed papers but requires high quality material.

He said: “Last year we had to import about half of our paper raw material. If we used mixed paper, the quality of our product would suffer. It would have weaker installation and insulation properties.”